What is America's oligarchy up to?
One major strategy of the oligarchy has been to promote the unitary executive theory. In short, the president will head a hierarchy in which he holds all power. Donald Trump can murder people at sea, and no one can stop him. He is above the law.
The rich find democracy troublesome. They plan to focus on winning one elected office that has unlimited power.
The fact that J.D. Vance dislikes women is not enough in itself to make Vance a Republican leader.
Vance, like many Christian nationalists, believes that human nature is fixed and flawed.
We can grant him flawed.
But if human nature is fixed, conservatives should have nothing to worry about. Our nature cannot change, no matter what Darwin says.
Vance seems to fear that western women will adopt new ideas and fail to defer to men. But he's sure that the submissive nature of women is set for all time. Women, he argues, must be kept pregnant, dependent and in line by a firm Supreme Court. Otherwise the submissive nature of women might change, although that nature, he believes, is fixed forever.
I worked back east for 34 years, so of course I saw the Trump Washington Monument a few times, along with the Trump-Lincoln Memorial. But my wife and I lived on Trump Island, near New Trump City. As a consequence I saw the Statue of Liberty-Trump many times. I once ate Nathan Trump hotdogs on Trump Island, after a scary ride.
If you are old enough, you might remember Zorro, who used a sword to mark things with a Z.
Independents are more than 30% of the voters in California. Their votes are hard to predict, but I, an independent, will try to fill that gap.
In the latest poll, 80% of independents nationwide registered disapproval of the Trump presidency, perhaps because Trump has dementia and wanders sleeplessly.
15% like what the nut is doing. Who are these voters? What is wrong with them? Trump is murdering people.
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OLD AT 91
“La vieillesse est un naufrage.”
—Charles de Gaulle
1.
In high school I met M, who grew up to be an innovative sculptor. We rode the same school bus. He now has advanced Parkinson’s.
M has always been a truth-teller.
A few months ago he made it to Santa Cruz, helped by two grandsons. I drove down to meet him—my closest friend for 75 years—and to show him Lang Lang on You Tube playing the adagio in “The Emperor.”
We talked about art and parents and Albert Camus, and I reminded M that nearly everyplace he’d ever gone, he’d been well-liked.
M said, “I couldn’t help it.”
When I joined the army, I had to swear to obey the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Donald Trump, of course, would not understand the Code (or much else), because his father paid a doctor to help him dodge military service during Vietnam.
The Code states that soldiers must not obey orders that are "contrary to the laws of the United States."
I was not an attorney in those days (or later), and those who wrote the Code did not expect me to debate fine points of the law. The Code was telling me to disobey if an officer ordered me to shoot a five-year-old girl asleep on a couch.
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News people talk about President Trump as if he were sane. Trump is nuts. We should be saying that out loud. If he hadn’t been born with a half billion dollars, he would have vanished before he was 40, beaten to death behind a food pantry.
Psychologists have described Trump as a malignant narcissist, an informal mix of personality disorders, not a treatment category.
Below are some features of a malignant narcissist.
Narcissistic grandiosity
Cruelty, aggression and sadism
Lying, lack of remorse
Seeing others as malevolent, paranoia
Fragile but defended self-esteem
Destructive behavior toward individuals and groups
Need to be admired, lack of empathy
Exploits others, reckless disregard for others.
Impulsivity, highly abusive relationships, bullying
May turn orange.
